Luna's Cupboard
by HarryxHermionexLuna
Summary: Harry finds Luna locked in a cupboard on the fourth of November 1994. Rescuing Luna leads to a much better year than either could have hoped for. Bashing of Dumbledore, Snape, Molly, Ron and McGonagall. Lunar Harmony eventually.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Meeting Luna

Harry was wandering around the castle under his invisibility cloak, a habit he had acquired shortly after his name had come out of the Goblet, and his dormmates had made it clear he was not welcome. Or rather, his supposed best friend Ronald Weasley had said so, and none of them had voiced any disagreement.

He stopped when he heard crying, and looked around to see if he could determine where it was coming from. He soon identified it as coming from a nearby cupboard, and went over and asked "Are you OK?"

"Please help me".

Harry grabbed the handle of the cupboard and was surprised to find it locked. He wasn't going to leave someone in need locked inside a dark cupboard, and so he gave the handle a hard yank. Magic in its purest form is simply the manifestation of the user's intent. Even though numerous locking charms had been used on the door, they all fell away at that moment. Harry did not believe himself to be a strong wizard, but he did believe strongly that no-one should have to be locked in a dark cupboard, and it was the strength of this belief that allowed him to overcome the locking charms with ease.

After opening the door, Harry was shocked to see a thin and naked girl with blonde hair. Embarrassed, he quickly pulled off his invisibility cloak and threw it to her, then turned round to give her a chance to cover up. "It's OK, you can look now". Harry turned around, and saw that the girl had wrapped his cloak around herself, leaving her head hovering in the air. He vaguely recognised her as being a Ravenclaw in the year below him.

"I'm afraid I don't know your name."

"Hello Harry Potter, my name is Luna Lovegood, thank you for rescuing me"

"Who did this to you?"

"The other girls in my dorm ambushed me after my last class today and stunned me, and I woke up locked in here. I don't think I want to go back to my dorm"

"I'm not welcome in my dorm either, would you like to stay here with me?" said Harry, lying down on the floor of the cupboard as he did so. Rather than lay down nearby, Luna choose to lay on top of Harry and cuddle into him. As she did so, her stomach growled with hunger. Frowning, Harry realised that Luna had not been able to have dinner.

Although it had become increasingly detached after decades of uncaring headmasters, the castle itself responded to the distress of its two most powerful students in centuries. Dobby popped next to pair and said "Hogwarts is asking house elves to be helping you. Dobby be here to help you."

"Dobby, Luna here was forced to miss dinner, could you bring something for us to eat?"

"Dobby can be doing doing that." Dobby popped away, and was soon back with plates of fruit, biscuits and cheese, along with mugs of hot chocolate.

The pair were quiet while they ate. Unknown to Harry, Luna had not eaten since breakfast, as she had been forced to spend her entire lunch tracking down the books required for their afternoon classes.

Luna was still only wearing Harry's invisibility cloak, and was surprised to notice that she had warmed up and stopped shivering. Invisibility cloaks were not known for their warmth, but Luna had noticed as soon as she put it on that it was no ordinary invisibility cloak. Harry had lent it to her with the intent of it being a suitable substitute for her missing clothes, and the invisibility cloak of Death himself was more than capable of responding to Harry's intent.

"I've been locked in a cupboard before, you know." Luna froze when hearing this. The Boy-Who-Lived, locked in a cupboard?

"When I was growing up with my relatives, they locked me up in the cupboard under the stairs each night to sleep. They told me it was my punishment for being a freak, and they'd stop doing it when I stopped being a freak. They let my cousin Dudley beat me up, and uncle Vernon thrashed me with a belt until I was bleeding severely, and poured salt into the cupboard where I slept. They said it was from my own good, that they'd get the freakishness out of me. I tried to stop being a freak, I wanted to stop being a freak, but I couldn't and the freakishness kept on happening. When my teacher's hair turned blue after she accused me of cheating off of my cousin, my Aunt Petunia said that it was obvious I was far too freakish, and she was going to make sure I was reminded of it every day. She heated up a fireplace poker and did this to me" Harry pulled up his shirt, and among the other scars, she could see burn scars on Harry's side spelling out the work FREAK.

This was the first time Harry had talked about his childhood so openly, and he had started crying by the end of it. Luna cuddled into harry and tried to comfort him "You're not a freak Harry, you're a very nice wizard, you rescued me, and I like you very much. I've been called a freak as well. It was shortly after my mother died. The girl living near me, Ginny Weasley was trying to comfort me, and was hugging me, and her mother burst into the room I was in and chased me out with a broom, she said that she wouldn't let an unnatural freak corrupt he daughter"

Harry was less shocked than he would have been about Molly Weasley's behaviour. After his name had come out of the Goblet, he had received a letter with a stern warning stay away from her family, and that she should of known what an untrustworthy halfblood he was, given his mudblood whore of a mother. She did however show her true colours by also saying that she would still be willing to allow him to marry her daughter, so long as he provided a bride price of 500,000 Galleons.

Dobby and another house elf had popped in just as Harry started telling Luna about his time growing up, and rather than interrupt, they had listed to the story. They could tell that Harry was telling the truth, and that he had omitted the worst of it. As his story went on, the house elves respect for Harry grew. Dobby had always though that the great Harry Potter sir was a great wizard, and now the rest of the house elves at Hogwarts would share that opinion.

Harry had been through worse than the most abused house elf, and was not a murdering psychopath at the end of it. It was not well known, but house elves could turn on their masters. Simple physical abuse wouldn't do it, with the extremely fast healing and high pain tolerances, it was not enough to break their bond with their master. However, kill one of their children in front of them, and you would not live long enough to regret it

"Dobby and Hokey be sorry it be taking so long. Here are all Miss Luna's things, cleaned and repaired. Miss Luna should be calling Hokey if she needs anything" Luna saw that the elves had brought her trunk, and it was full with all her possessions, even the ones she had long thought lost. On the top of her trunk, there was a picture of her and her mother that the older ravenclaws had torn up and thrown into the lake in her first year. This left Luna with a new respect and appreciation for the house elves.

"Thank you, this is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me".

"It is being no trouble. Any true friend of the great Harry Potter Sir is being a friend of Dobby. Dobby is being glad that Dobby could help"

"Hokey is also happy to have been able to help."

"Friend? Would you you be my friend Harry Potter?" "I think I'd like that". Harry briefly stood outside the cupboard to allow Luna to get dressed. The house elves brought the pair pillows and blankets, and the pair drifted off into a deep sleep cuddled up to each other, both feeling better than they had in a long time.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Hermione

The next morning, Harry woke first. He took in the unusual surroundings and first worried that his ex-friend Ronald Weasley had gained some measure of competence and been able to break through the wards around his bed. However, he then felt the warm weight on top of him and remembered the events of the previous night.

Luna woke up to the sound of Harry calling her name gently to wake her up. At first, she was surprised at the lack of itching from the itching powder the other Ravenclaws liked to use on her bedsheets, and that she felt warm, as opposed to the near-hypothermia she usually had from the freezing charms her roommates liked to cast on her.

At first she remembered waking up in a cold, dark cupboard and began to panic, but she then remembered being rescued by Harry Potter, and relaxed.

Harry and Luna walked down to breakfast together, and sat at the Gryffindor table with Hermione.

Harry could not decide how he felt about Hermione. On the night his name came out of the Goblet, she was the only one to believe him, and was in the library with Harry until curfew, but the next morning she had no interest in the tournament and had instead decided that she needed to go a crusade to free the house elves, despite even Dobby trying to talk her out of it.

As far as he could tell, she still believed him, but had decided that the fate of the house elves (despite their objections to her plans) were far more important than him surviving the tournament.

Hermione appeared to not even notice Luna and instead went straight into ranting about house elf slavery. "I can't believe I ate food produced using slave labour. I'm not going to eat anything the house elves make until they're paid a proper wage."

Luna, not being familiar with the recent obsession Hermione had developed, made the mistake of asking a question "Have you asked the house elves if they want to be free?"

"It doesn't matter if they want to be free or not, slavery is always wrong, and I don't care about the reasons for it."

"Have you asked them why they don't want to be paid?"

"Slavery is wrong, and I won't eat anything until the Hogwarts house elves are paid a proper wage."

"Isn't your academic work going to suffer when you're hungry? Not to mention that even when you're magical, there's only so long you can go without food."

"Slavery is wrong, and I would rather die than eat food prepared by an enslaved elf."

"What about the fruit? There's not much preparation involved in that."

"Slavery is wrong, and I won't support it."

Harry had begun to look more upset as the exchange between Hermione and Luna went on, which Luna noticed. "Harry, could you come help me with my homework for Defence against the Dark Arts?"

"Sure, I'd be happy to. Hermione, I'll leave you to continue starving yourself in an attempt to fundamentally change the nature of an entire race without their consent."

"I'll be knitting hat to free house elves, since some of us object to slavery."

Harry followed Luna to an abandoned classroom and asked him "Harry, your friend Hermione is obviously insane, but could you tell me why you looked so upset?"

Harry was reluctant to answer, but Luna simply pulled him into a hug, and waited, and he soon broke down gave his answer.

"She's gone on a fucking hunger strike for the Hogwarts house elves, who don't want her so-called help, but when I ask it's 'He's the headmaster Harry, he must know best.'"

"The house elves here at Hogwarts don't have their fingers broken for burning bacon. They're not whipped for missing a speck of dust. They're not... They're not..."

Harry began crying again at this point and Luna pulled him into a tighter hug and said "It's OK Harry, I'm here for you. We have a plan and I promise you, you will never have to back there." _Even if I have to kill the bastards myself _she added silently. Luna was not by nature a hateful person. She could not bring herself to hate the bullies who locked her in a cold dark cupboard, with no care as to whether she lived or died, but she hated Harry's family, and she hated the man who had enabled their abuse year after year.

"Harry, your friend Hermione had the biggest wrackspurt infestation I've ever seen. Has she been acting particularly oddly recently?"

"The night my name came out of the Goblet of Fire, she was in the library looking for a way to get me out of it. The next morning, the only thing she can talk about is the plight of the house elves."

"Harry, I think someone might have been influencing her mind."

Harry paused for a moment to think about this. He _knew _from his experiences in second year that there were spells that could affect the mind in an extremely dramatic fashion, but the possibility hadn't even occurred to him until Luna had suggested it.

"Luna, I think Hermione might not be the only one who had her mind messed with. What can we do about it?"

Luna smiled, because Harry had included her and asked her for advice, but then a look of disappointment appeared on her face.

"I'm sorry Harry, I don't know how to counter mental spells. My family has always been naturally resistant to them."

"Miss Luna is being right, old longbeard be making She-Who-Knits do this. Miss Luna and the great Harry Potter Sir could be using the come and go room. It is being a most wondrous room, and Hokey is telling Dobby that James Potter once used it remove a compulsion charm from Lily Evans. Dobby is thinking that the great Harry Potter sir could use it in the same way."

"That sounds great Dobby, how do we get to it?"

"The great Harry Potter sir should be walking past the wall opposite the tapestry of Baranabas the Barmy on the seventh floor three times while thinking of what room the great Harry Potter sir wants."

"Luna, let's go and have a look at this room."

Harry and Luna both got up to start walking to the seventh floor, but Dobby said "Dobby be taking you there now" and snapped his fingers, and a moment later, they were in the seventh floor corridor.

"Luna? Could you try making the room? I think it might be more effective if it's created by someone with a natural resistance to mental manipulations, not to mention any problems that could be caused by any charms still on me."

"I'd be happy to" Luna skipped – not walked past the wall three times and a door appeared in the wall. Luna pulled open the door and walked in, and Harry followed. However, as soon as he had fully crossed into the room, he collapsed. Fortunately, Dobby had not left, and was able to conjure a mattress to cushion Harry's fall.

Luna looked panicked at this turn of events, but was relieved when seconds later, Harry woke up, and began swearing. "The old goatfucker and his pet slimeball are going to die. Dobby, I need you to get Hermione and bring her here."

"Dobby can be doing that." Dobby had learnt from seeing Harry collapse, and conjured another mattress before bringing Hermione to the room. Like Harry, Hermione collapsed, and like Harry she woke up in seconds, and the stated. "The old goatfucker and his pet slimeball are going to die"

Luna giggled, and Harry and Hermione both turned to look at her "That's exactly what Harry said when he woke up." Harry and Hermione both blushed slightly, but were interrupted by Hermione's stomach growling.

"I guess this room made that silencing charm fail. We should make plans to exterminate the vermin, but I don't think I'll be much use at the moment, as I've not eaten for three days thanks to the headbastard."

"Dobby?"

Dobby snapped his fingers and a plate of hot buttered toast appeared in front of Hermione. "Dobby will be asking Hokey to prepare yous a proper meal, whilst you be asking Dobby questions about House elves."

Dobby popped to the kitchens, and popped back less than a minute later and noticed that Hermione had already devoured the plate of toast, and the three sudents were now sitting around a table that the room had produced.

"Dobby is being pleased that miss Hermione is eating. Dobby is thinking the great Harry Potter Sir was getting worried. Dobby is thinking miss Hermione should bes asking her questions now."

"Dobby? Can you tell me why you only wanted to be paid a knut a year?"

"House elves are agreeing that room and board and magic being fair payment for work. House elves magic be coming from wizards they are being bonded with. Dobby only wanting to be paid a knut a year as symbolic gesture. Being paid means Dobby cannot be being trapped by another bad master. When house elves is getting paid, house elves are having received magic reduced, and house elves must compensate, and this bes causing us pain. Knut a year less than a faint itch, Dobby's current pay being more like the pain wizards be experiencing from what muggles be calling second degree burns."

Harry winced at this, being all too familiar with the pain Dobby was describing.

Hokey popped in with the lunch he had prepared, and added to what Dobby said "House elves is needing to work like wizards are needing to eat."

The trio dug into their lunch of steak and chips, with Hermione unable to concentrate on anything but devouring the food on the plate in front of her. Despite this, she still retained her table manners, and Harry and Luna were not in fear of losing their fingers to her ravenous appetite, as they would have been if Ronald were in her place.

Once Hermione had finished her lunch, she noticed something that both Harry and Luna had overlooked.

"Luna, why haven't you got any house colours on your robes?"

**Author's** **Note**

I was overwhelmed with the number of reviews to the first chapter, all of which are very much appreciated. Apologies to those I've not responded to individually, I've been very busy. As a general note for this story, remember that not everything is as it seems.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Dumbledore's Comeuppance

"It would appear that Hogwarts has chosen to remove me from Ravenclaw for my own safety".

"You don't seem to be all that upset by it" observed Hermione

"Of course not. Ravenclaw house has shamed itself by attempting to kill one of its members, and the castle itself will punish them accordingly. Among other things, all current Ravenclaws will be unable to earn house points for the remainder of their stay here, though they can still lose them."

"How do you know this? It isn't in Hogwarts, a History."

"Of course it is."

"No it isn't, I've read the entire book, and this wasn't mentioned anywhere in there."

Luna sighed, walked over to her trunk and pulled out her own copy, passed down to her from her great grandmother, flicked to the correct page and passed the book to Hermione. "It just isn't in current copy which has been mutilated beyond all recognition by censorship of anything found inconvenient by the current administration."

Hermione read the page Luna had opened the older copy of Hogwarts, a History to and was shocked to find a passage not present in the current version confirming Luna's claims.

Filius Flitwick was incensed

He had been trapped in his oaths to the school, and prevented from doing anything to help his student. The deputy headmistress had been unwilling to do anything, claiming that 'the stupid fey bitch deserves it'.

It was as though she didn't realise he himself was more fey from his goblin heritage. The headmaster had also refused to do anything.

As long as none of his students were put in danger of death, his oaths to the school would not let him act against the instructions of the deputy headmistress.

However, now some students in his house had attempted to kill her. Though it was to his great shame that students he was responsible for would do such a thing, it presented an opportunity. Before the day was over, either he would be dead, or the headmaster would be gone.

Dumbledore wandered into the great hall for lunch, and was shocked to see Flitwick standing on a dueling platform that had taken the place of the teacher's table.

"Albus Dumbledore, your actions have endangered the life of one of my students. As is my right, by the Hogwarts charter laid down by Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, I challenge you. Face me, or leave this castle, never to return."

Dumbledore sighed. He'd worked so hard to suppress knowledge of ways he could be removed, but it seemed that Flitwick's cousins at Gringott's had shared that bit of information. Flitwick had long since become a liability, and he had been hoping the Lovegood girl would succumb to the bullying. giving him an opportunity to use Flitwick as a scapegoat. Doing so would cement the loyalty of his deputy headmistress, and give him a chance to replace the Ravenclaw head of house with someone more loyal to him. Perhaps Mundungus could be persuaded to earn some money honestly?

Still, Dumbledore wasn't worried. He held the elder wand, and so this duel would be inconvenient, but ultimately not a problem. Displaying the bloody corpse of the quarter goblin should stop the Ravenclaws asking any inconvenient questions. Even lucky shots where not a consideration, for Fawkes would be forced to take the hit for him.

Dumbledore stepped onto the platform and attacked with no warning, throwing a flame whip at Flitwick, who shielded easily, and followed up with a barrage of cutting curses. Dumbledore was able to deflect or dodge all of them, except one which cut off part of his beard.

The two duelists continued trading spells, evading or deflecting almost all of them. Neither had remained unscathed, with Dumbledore continuing to lose chunks of his beard, and Flitwick had lost a chunk of his right ear.

Dumbledore was beginning to worry. Since obtaining the elder wand, his duels were all over in seconds unless he wished to draw them out for longer, as he had done when he was toying with Tom. After all, the more the reputation of the dark lord was built up, the better it would be for his image when he chose to defeat him.

Dumbledore had forgotten something very important. Hogwarts wasn't just an idiosyncratic magic castle that happened to host a school. No, it was a castle that the most powerful and intelligent witches and wizards of their time had poured their life and soul into making the best possible school. It might have slumbered for the last century, but Hogwarts was sentient, and it had woken up. Not only that, but when Tom Riddle had attended, all three of the Hallows had been inside the castle at the same time, making the castle the closest thing to the master of death. As such, it was a trivial feat for the castle to remove the advantage the elder wand gave, leaving it nothing more than an ordinary wand.

Flitwick had begun using his more esoteric charms knowledge, and Dumbledore his transfiguration knowledge. The only student that hadn't stopped eating to marvel at the incredible magical display was Ronald Weasley, who was happy because he could stuff his cavernous maw without any interference, and the bookworm bitch hadn't been around to nag him to do his charms essay, which was, after all, only two weeks overdue.

Flitwick was younger and fitter than Dumbledore, and the advantage was beginning to show. Eventually, Dumbledore failed to move far enough to the left when dodging, and a dark blue curse blew Dumbledore's arm off at the shoulder. Dumbledore stared at his shoulder in shock – Fawkes should have taken that hit!

What Dumbledore didn't know was that as soon as he stepped onto the dueling platform, Fawkes had flashed into the room of requirements. With it currently set to remove all external influence, the bindings placed on Fawkes by Dumbledore had all failed.

Flitwick followed up his disarming of Dumbledore by blasting him into the wall of the dueling arena, and burning off what was left of his beard. He summoned Dumbledore's wand to him, and then called a house elf to dump Dumbledore and his severed arm outside the wards of Hogwarts.

"Dumbledore, you are banished from this castle, never to return." With that declaration, there was a loud clang, and the wards of Hogwarts were to set to forever forbid entry to Albus Dumbledore.

At the same time Dumbledore was thrown out of Hogwarts, Fawkes swooped down on Luna and bit her shoulder. Luna and Fawkes were then both engulfed in flames.

**Author's Note:**

Thanks for all the lovely reviews! They are all much appreciated.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Horrors uncovered

Having defeated Dumbledore, Flitwick was now headmaster, and as such was no longer bound by the orders of the previous headmaster. He was running through the halls to where he knew his student had been stuffed in a cupboard, intent on rescuing her, until he felt a nudge at the edge of his consciousness and remembered that the headmaster could apparate within Hogwarts. He did so, only to find the cupboard empty except for plates with biscuit crumbs and mugs with hot chocolate residue.

House elves were the only one likely to provide food, so Flitwick did the logical thing and called a house elf to question them.

"Do you know where Miss Lovegood is? I need to apologise and explain why I wasn't able to help."

"Hokey is thinking that Miss Luna is already knowing this. Hokey is reassuring Master Flitwick that Miss Lovegood is being with friends. Hokey is thinking that Master Flitwick has other problems to be solving and Hokey will be asking Miss Luna to come to the Great hall at dinner."

With that, Hokey popped away, leaving Flitwick reassured, but wondering what friends Luna had found. Flitwick then realised he did indeed have significant problems to solve, given that he was likely to need to sack half the staff.

He realised that he now had control of the Hogwarts wards, and the first thing he did was to ask for the location of McGonagall. This was personal, and he'd enjoy it more than he perhaps should.

McGonagall was, as usual when not teaching or at meals, in her office, ignoring her responsibilities to both the students of her house and the entire school. She had just settled in for a glass of the Glenfiddich 50 year old whisky that had been illegitimately obtained using school funds. However, before she had the chance to mix her drink with some Coca-Cola her door burst open to reveal an extremely angry Filius Flitwick.

It had been so easy to forget that the jovial man was one of the most dangerous wizards in the world when she could use his oaths against him. Now though, he was headmaster and he was out for revenge.

"Minevra McGonagall, you have failed your house, and you have failed the school. You are henceforth stripped of all positions of authority in Hogwarts and banished from the grounds. Your possessions will be returned to you once the goblins of Gringotts have completed an audit of the school accounts and determined if there is any malfeasance for which you are liable."

McGonagall tried to activate the wards she had set on her office, but nothing happened. Hogwarts would not let any wards set within her act against the legitimate headmaster! She then went to draw her wand, only to be disarmed before her hand even touched her wand.

Flitwick called a house elf to throw McGonagall out the castle. Dobby had practice in interpteting orders in a creative fashion, and so McGonagall found herself naked and wandless in the middle of Hogsmeade. She was soon arrested for public indecent, and the obliviation squad was kept busy with the many requests from the residents of Hogsmeade to have their memories of the event removed.

After having the ex-deputy headmistress thrown out, Flitwick saw the bottle of whisky and the can of Coca-Cola on her desk, he began to wish that he'd engaged in some old-fashioned torture first. After all, after seeing the reason for it, no Scottish jury would ever convict him.

The flames from Fawkes disappeared as quickly as they appeared. Luna was completely unharmed, but there were scorch marks on the floor and her clothes had burnt to ash.

Harry quickly spun around, whereas Hermione could not look away from Fawkes who was now blue and bronze. Hermione's reverie was soon interrupted by Luna

"Hermione could you get a new set of clothes from my trunk for me? I think it will be easier for Harry to look at me if he's not repulsed by naked body."

Harry could not let Luna continue to feel like this, and so without thinking he blurted out "No! I think you're very pretty. But it's making me react in a bad freakish way."

Hermione embraced Harry in a hug then and went "Oh! Harry, that's normal". Whilst Hermione was comforting Harry and promising to explain further later, as well as offering to lend him a book on the subject, Luna had retrieved a new set of clothes and gotten dressed. Unfortunately, Hermione was not going to overcome years of abusive conditioning in less than a minute, and her embrace was not helping with the reaction that Harry viewed as bad and freakish.

Luna began explaining "Dumbledore caught Fawkes and bound him using some vile magic requiring the ritual slaughter of a new born baby. Dumbledore forbid Fawkes from leaving Hogwarts, so he couldn't flame to anyone who could help him. However, when this room was created to remove any exterior influence, it gave him a location within Hogwarts he could go to where the influence would be suppressed and then he bonded with me to remove the bond completely. Fawkes would have been happy to bond with either of you as well, but he didn't want your current familiars to be jealous."

Hokey popped in and quickly summarised what had happened. "Dumbledore is not being headmaster any more. Hokey is thinking that Master Flitwick would like to be seeing Miss Luna at dinner. Hokey is thinking that Miss Luna will be liking the changes."

Next on Flitwick's list was Severus Snape. Although Flitwick was in no need of help to deal with the scum, there were two witches who would appreciate the opportunity to help. Andromeda Tonks had been the other applicant for the position of potions professor, but Dumbledore had decided she was a dark witch and tried to her arrested as she had used lethal curses to defend herself from Voldemort. Since this rejection Andromeda had spent most of her time outside the UK becoming a renowned potions mistress and inspector of magical schools. Amelia Bones would appreciate the chance to quiz the man who was strongly suspected to have committed the murder of Susan Bones' parents, and now now that Flitwick was free to share his concerns with her would no doubt also want to investigate why her red headed niece had more detentions than average with the greasy bat.

Severus Snape was in his office, preparing to flee after removing the schools most valuable potions supplies when his office splintered into a million pieces. Flitwick entered, flanked by two angry witches. Snape saw who was with Flitwick and promptly pissed himself in fear.

"Severus Snape, you are henceforth stripped of all positions of authority in Hogwarts. As soon as these two lovely ladies have finished their interrogation of you to determine the extent of your crimes, you will be banished from the grounds of Hogwarts never to return."

Flitwick left Amelia and Andromeda to their interrogation to head to the hospital wing to conduct an interrogation to see if another member of staff would need to be banished.

After finding out that Flitwick's suspicions about the reasons her niece had more detentions than average with Snape, and that it was in fact worse and the detentions had involved forcing her niece to answer to Lily, Amelia had decided that this man would not be allowed to leave this room alive, and proceeded to use everything she knew about torture to maximise the amount of pain he suffered before he died, with the useful side effect of wring some information out of him.

Being a fair and honest women, torture did not come easily to Amelia, and Andromeda looked on at the amateur attempts with some amusement. Soon, Amelia was out of ideas beyond just beating the man, and Andromeda smoothly stepped in, using what she had learned growing up to make the man truly suffer. Amelia looked on with a mixture of horror and fascination at the expert at work. It was so terrible, she almost felt sorry for Snape. When Snape revealed that he had slipped a clumsiness potion to Tonks at the request of McGonagall because the metamorphagus was in danger of becoming better at transfiguaration, than the old witch Andromeda did not miss a beat and commented. "We know already. Nymphadora fakes her clumsiness to avoid suspicion. Even though Britain believes that potion to be irreversible, it was easy enough for me to reverse it. We suspected you, but of course you had protection. We thought it was done at Dumbledore's request, but now Nymphadora has a bitch to hunt down and practice her skills on." Amelia shivered at the though of her most cheerful auror having these sorts of skills, and wondered just how much she'd underestimated the metamorhphagus by, and was reminded just why the Black family had been so feared.

Andromeda forced Snape to write out a confession of all his major crimes using a blood quill. It took up forty feet of parchment, and there was not enough parchment in all of Hogwarts to list all his more minor crimes, but there was an extra four feet for the summary of them.

Andromeda knew torture well, and Snape expired mere seconds after signing the confession. Amelia took the confession and made several copies for the ICW, the ministry, Hogwarts, the daily prophet and the Quibbler. She would keep the original safe.

The two women felt Hogwarts will them to go somewhere, and so they followed the prompting and ended up at the hospital wing.

Flitwick was on his way to the hospital wing when he almost ran into Alastor Moody, but the wards were screaming at him that the man was heavily disguised, so he whipped out his wand and stunned him, and then dragged him into an unused classroom, and locked the doors and set up various security charms.

As he was stripping the man to remove any potential surprises, the man's features began to morph, and they soon became recognizable as the features of Barty Crouch Jr., a man long thought dead, condemned to Azkaban by his own father. This was something best turned over to Amelia to look at, but since polyjuice required the supplier of the hair to still be alive, he had high hopes that the real Alastor Moody would still be alive. With the luck, he might even be fit enough to teach, saving Flitwick from having to find yet another new teacher.

Flitwick reached the hospital wing without any further interruptions. When Flitwick called upon Pomfrey's oath to the school to force her to start answering questions, she promptly fainted. Concerned, Flitwick lifted her into a bed and began casting detection charms. It seemed that fainting had been the way her magic reacted to the conflicting pulls of various pieces of magic in order to prevent from being torn apart. Flitwick began the careful work of unweaving the net of spells. After an hour and a half of work, he had made significant progress when Amelia and Andromeda walked in.

"It is done" said Amelia, handing Flitwick a copy of Snape's confession.

"Thank you. I need more help from you still. On the way here, I ran into who I thought was Alastor Moody, but turned out to be Barty Crouch Jr. under polyjuice. I believe the DMLE will want to question him, and you can pick him up from the kitchen where he is currently being watched over by house elves before you leave. However, you want to search his office to see if you find a clue as to the whereabouts of the real Alastor Moody. If you do find the original please try and convince him to stay and teach. I have enough staff to replace as it is."

Amelia left to do just that, throwing a comment over her shoulder "I may be able to arrange for Nymphadora to be posted here for the year. She should be able to be of some help with defence against the dark arts or transfiguration."

After Amelia had left, Andromeda commented quietly but forcefully "My daughter will not be teaching anything here until the entire heap of rubble has been scoured by a competent curse breaking team."

"Indeed. If you don't mind, I could do with your help removing the rest of these charms and checking for potions involvement."

When the two were finished Pomfrey awoke and immediately said "Where is Harry Potter? I need to treat him. There are other that I must also treat, but his case is the most serious and most urgent."

Flitwick reassured the healer "I'll bring him her after dinner" and then proceeded to interrogate her to ensure that she was trustowrthy.

Andromeda and Flitwick left the hospital wing and proceeded to the Great Hall for dinner.

Amelia Bones had recovered the original Moody and dropped off Barty Crouch Jr. in a high security holding cell and was also heading towards the Hogwarts great hall, intent on seeing her niece.

With the death of Severus Snape, the charms he had placed on Susan Bones broke, and as soon as Amelia entered the great Hall, she ran into her aunt's arms, and then broke down and cried.

Harry, Luna and Hermione met Flitwick and Andromeda outside the great Hall. Flitwick presented the wand he had taken from Dumbledore. "Miss Lovegood, this wand is yours now. I would like to invite you and your friends to dine with me at the staff table for further explanations."

**Author's note:  
**

Thank you for the reviews! I read and appreciate all of them, but unfortunately do not generally have time to respond to them.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Dinner

Hermione was rather quiet and subdued. Previously, she would have mentioned that this was the first time that students had been allowed to eat at the staff table, but her faith in her favourite book had been shattered and she was being forced to reexamine beliefs that she previously had no doubts about.

Flitwick explained how Dumbledore had become Headmaster without first swearing the appropriate oaths, and had then inserted his minions in the form of Snape and McGonagall, who he had allowed to forgo swearing any of the traditional oaths sworn by Hogwarts Teachers to act in the best interest of the school and its students.

He also explained how he had been trapped by his oaths and had been unable to act, and Luna immediately forgave him for his inaction.

The conversation soon moved onto other matters.

"Miss Lovegood, I will have the House Elves prepare a classroom for you to stay in until we can set up more suitable accommodations for you. I will, if necessary, throw Ravenclaw House out of the tower and allow you to move in."

"That's OK professor, Dobby showed us the Room of Requirement, and I can stay there. Since Harry and Hermione are also both no longer wearing the Gryffindor colours, I hope they don't mind staying with me as well."

"I'd be happy to." said Harry

"Fine with me as well." confirmed Hermione

"Excellent. Since you've already met them, don't hesitate to ask the house elves for anything you need. You can also use them to contact me if necessary. And, before I forget, Madam Pomfrey would like to see you after dinner. She was under a vast number of compulsions and mind altering potions, but they have all now been removed, and I assure you that she will do what is best for your health"

After their enlightening dinner, the three students traipsed up to the hospital wing.

"Hello, Madam Pomfrey. Professor Flitwick told me that you needed to see me?"

"Yes, I need to treat your scar. I wanted to deal with it when you first came here, but Dumbledore meddled. Would you like to talk about it in private?"

Harry looked at Hermione and Luna and shook his head. "No, I trust Luna and Hermione, they can hear this too."

"Very well, but you may want to sit down whilst I explain. When you were first in here, I ran through the standard diagnostic charms, and something _odd _showed up. It wasn't anything that I recognised immediately, but I was able to narrow it down to your scar. It was tainted with the residue of dark magic, much more than you would expect from being hit with a dark curse over a decade ago. Running through some more diagnostic charms, eventually one of the more obscure ones gave a positive result, and it showed that your scar had a fragment of soul in it."

"It's Voldemort's, isn't it. I am a freak, I have someone's soul in me. I am a freak, my relatives were right."

Luna took hold of Harry's hand and quietly said "You're not a freak Harry. It is Voldemort who is a freak, for his soul to have split like that."

Harry calmed down as Luna touched him, and Madam Pomfrey continued.

"Indeed. Miss Lovegood is quite right. I will also point out that the reason that your scar never healed fully is because your magic was fighting against it constantly, and before you mention being able to talk to snakes, I can tell you that both your parents had that ability, but kept it quiet. I would have removed the soul fragment and ensured that you never returned to your relatives, but Dumbledore decided to _meddle_" Madam Pomfrey had managed to inject a truly amazing amount of venom into that last word.

"The diary. Tom Riddle's diary that possessed Ginny, that had part of Voldemort's soul in it as well, and I'm guessing that Dumbledore meddled with your treatment of her as well?" asked Harry.

"Yes, it most likely did contain part of Voldemort's soul, but I can't answer your other question, because I can't discuss other patients medical treatment with you without permission from them or their guardians.."

"How and why did Voldemort split his soul like that?" asked Hermione, trying to distract herself from the surge of jealousy she had felt when she saw Luna calm Harry down so effortlessly.

"What I'm about to say needs to be kept as much of a secret as possible. We don't want any copycat dark lords running around. I believe the diary was intended to be a Horcrux. That is, Voldemort murdered someone in order to split his soul and shoved a fragment of his soul into an object in order to anchor himself. It's how he was able to survive the rebounded killing curse after he attacked you. For his soul to have been unstable enough that a fragment detached itself and attached to you, he must have made multiple Horcruxes, With your permission, I'd like to transfer the soul fragment from your scar into an object, and then consult with a trusted friend of mine and Professor Flitwick, and we will hopefully be able to use it to track down the other Horcruxes he made and put a permanent end to him."

"Yes, you have permission. Please, I would like this soul fragment removed as soon as possible."

Madam Pomfrey pulled a large sapphire out and said "Because the fragment of soul is only loosely attached to you, the spell is relatively easy to perform. However, it will still hurt a bit, and it will work best if you are supported by those you trust. So if Miss Lovegood and Miss Granger could hold your hands, I believe it will go better and hurt less."

Luna and Hermione both immediately moved to take hold of Harry's hands, with Luna taking his right hand and Hermione his left.

Madam Pomfrey smiled at this and drew a circle and placed the sapphire in the centre of it, and inscribed a number of hieroglyphs around the circle and then flicked her wand once at the sapphire, and once at Harry's scar, and a rope of white energy formed between the two. Madam Pomfrey began pumping power in to rip the soul fragment from Harry's forehead and bind it in the sapphire. She soon began to sweat with the effort required to keep going, but was quickly rewarded as a black mass detached itself from Harry's scar and travelled along the rope of energy, before being absorbed into the sapphire. The rope of energy disappeared, Harry's scar began to bleed, and the previously beautifully unblemished sapphire was now shot through with ugly black veins.

Madam Pomfrey took a few moments to catch her breath. Once she was feeling reasonably recovered from the effort, she handed Harry a clean cloth and said "Hold that to your scar until it finishes bleeding. It's a normal wound now, so it should heal fine, but with the traces of magic left there, it would not be prudent for me to heal it magically. The cloth is soaked in a muggle antiseptic to prevent infection, it will sting a bit."

Harry did as Madam Pomfrey asked and she moved onto examining the girls.

"Miss Granger, your health is generally good. Unfortunately, you have some nasty potions swimming around in your system. They seem to have been rendered inert, but I would like to give the antidotes to ensure that they are fully purged from system."

"Can you tell me what they were for?" asked Hermione nervously.

"There's a love potion there, keyed to someone with ginger hair. I can't be sure, but I expect that will be Ron Weasley. A repulsion potion keyed to anyone with green eyes, which must be targeted at Mister Potter here, and a loyalty potion keyed to someone who is a feline animagus, which must be that bitch McGonagall."

"Aren't those illegal?"

"They are, but it's poorly enforced because they can be administered by anyone, so unless you catch them red handed, there is no way of identifying the perpetrator. I will lend you a book on detection charms if you are worried about being dosed again."

"I would like that, thank you"

"Finally, you're not eating enough chocolate. Chocolate is extremely helpful for witches, and you should be eating a bar of it twice a week. It's why we used to serve so many chocolate desserts here – before that bastard Dumbledore banned them. Of course, all the pureblood witches continued to eat plenty of chocolate, but it definitely negatively affected the muggleborn witches, and the staff were forbidden from telling them that."

"But my parents are dentists, they won't let me eat anything sweet."

"If need be, I will personally explain the benefits to them. Now, Miss Lovegood, you are also in mostly good health but recently you haven't been eating enough."

"It's nice being Harry's friend. Usually I have to spend all of lunch and often breakfast looking for the books I need for classes." uttered Luna timidly.

"There's no long term harm done, so as long as you eat enough from now on, you should be fine. Unfortunately, Mr Potter's long term malnutrition has done significantly more damage, and he will need to take a nutrition potion daily to repair the damage and stimulate a growth spurt."

Seeing Harry's downcast look at the idea of taking a potion everyday for the next three months, Madam Pomfrey reassured him "Don't worry Mr Potter, these are ones I brewed myself, and they taste rather more pleasant than the ones you may be used to. Although wizards benefit less, in your case I believe you would also benefit significantly from increased chocolate consumption."

The three students left the hospital wing and headed back to the Room of Requirements with a shrunken crate of nutrition potions for Harry, and a shrunken crate of chocolate for them to share.

Once they entered the Room of Requirements, they realised that it had reconfigured itself, and there was now a common room with bedrooms off to the side with ensuite bathrooms.

The three students relaxed into the comfortable armchairs in front of the fire, and once they were settled in, Hermione worked up the nerve to ask Harry a question.

"Harry... how bad was it at your relatives' house?"

Harry pulled up his shirt to reveal his scars and pointed to the scars that spelled out the word "FREAK" and said "Petunia did this to me with a hot fireplace poker when I was eight years old".

The three students fell into an awkward silence after, which Luna broke by saying "It's getting late, and I should be off to bed. Harry, would you mind cuddling up with me again?"

As Luna left for bed, Harry followed, leaving Hermione alone with her thoughts.

Hermione was sat in front of the crackling fire, holding her copy of Hogwarts: A History, thinking about how her world view had been shattered. Finally making a decision, she threw the book into the fire, and as the pages curled up in the flames, she began to cry.

In the morning, Harry once again woke with a warm weight on top of him, but this time, he was in a comfortable bed. The first time, in a cramped and cold cupboard, was pleasant, but Harry decided that this was quite lovely. Harry knew that a freak like him didn't deserve happiness. No doubt Luna would see him for the freak he was soon enough, so he would enjoy it while it lasted.

Luna woke up momentarily after Harry. Waking up the day before warm with no itches had been pleasant, but waking up like this, and without the initial confusion made it lovely. Having her first real friend with her made it even better. Luna knew that Harry would soon see her for the lunatic she was, but she would enjoy it while it lasted.

Harry and Luna both reluctantly dragged themselves out of bed and went to their separate bathrooms to get dressed and ready for the day ahead. They descended the stairs together to find Hermione still curled up on the armchair in front of the now burnt out fire, with obvious tear stains on her cheeks.

**Author's Note**

Thank you once again for the incredible number of reviews. Please to continue posting them! There was a sudden surge on interest in this story, which appears to be attributable to Paladeus adding it to his community **The Book of Requirement: Quidditch Dreams**, so many thanks to him for that. If you are a Lunar Harmony fan, do check out his stories. I have updated the formatting in chapter 1, so hopefully it will now be easier to read. Finally, new readers may wish to check out my other stories which can be found in my profile.


	6. Chapter 6: Dragons!

**Chapter 6: Dragons!**

Hermione had woken up when she heard Harry and Luna come into the room.

"Hermione? Are you OK?" asked Harry.

Hermione sniffed "No, I'm not OK. My world view has been shattered, and I've no idea who or what to trust. I gave up reading fiction to read more factual books, and now I find out that I'd have been better off with the fiction, since at least then I'd know it wasn't true! And I would have enjoyed it more!"

Harry looked on awkwardly for a moment before sitting down next to Hermione and drawing her into a hug. "The Dursleys never let me read at all. We can start reading fiction together."

"I think that you should read some wizarding fairy tales, starting with the tales of Beedle the Bard. I can lend you a copy, now that the house elves have recovered my belongings."

Harry's attention was caught by some charred scraps in the fireplace, and after looking closely, he softly asked "Hermione..., did you throw your copy of Hogwarts: A History into the fire? It was your favourite book."

"Before I knew it was pack of lies, written only to present the most positive possible view, to hide any negatives from muggleborn!"

"Books are written by people, and just like people, they're not all correct. But the existence of a bad one doesn't mean that they're all bad. Now, we should get down to the Great Hall for breakfast. I do hope that they're serving pudding."

Hermione sniffed a little and said "Sure. Just give me a few minutes to get ready." Once Hermione was ready, they left for the great hall.

The trio entered the great hall, only to be immediately accosted by Harry's former best friend.

"Not only are you a cheater, but now you've sunk so low as to be hanging out with Loony. I guess you're so desperate that you'll go for whatever you can get. How long did she spend on her to knees to persuade you to hang out with her?"

Unfortunately for Ronald, the remaining Hogwarts staff were now committed to stamping out bullying, and Professor Sprout had just been passing by.

"Mr Weasley! Twenty points from Gryffindor and detention with me this evening. And another twenty points for still wearing one of those badges. And I shall be writing to your mother about your behaviour". With this, Professor Sprout summoned and then vanished the badge Ron had been wearing, and then turned to Harry's group. "As the three of you are without a house, you may sit where you like, including the head table."

"Thank you Professor. I believe we would like to sit at the Hufflepuff table today." replied the Luna.

The three of them sat opposite Cedric, who was sitting with Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot, who were looking ashamed of themselves. Susan's aunt Amelia had explained to them the truth about Barty Crouch entering Harry's name into the Goblet under a fourth school.

Luna had porridge, because in her words, "it's the closest thing to pudding available at breakfast", while Harry and Hermione both went for scrambled eggs, mushrooms and bacon on toast. After they finished their breakfast, they shared some of their chocolate with the three Hufflepuffs.

As they were leaving the great hall, they were approached by a clearly nervous Ginny. "I need to speak to all of you. Privately." Luna wanted as few people as possible to know where she was staying, so before Harry or Hermione could reply, she spoke up and said "I know an empty classroom nearby, follow me."

Harry, Hermione and Ginny followed Luna, and soon found themselves in a dusty empty classroom

"First, I'd like to apologise for my mother and my brother. I didn't ask for my mother to write that howler, and I certainly didn't ask for Ron to accost you like that."

"I appreciate it, but I don't think that's the real reason you wanted to speak to us in private." said Harry.

"No. I don't know what's happened between the three of you, but it's clear that something's happened. And now that Madam Pomfrey removed the compulsion charms from me, I feel that I need to explain just how significant the debt I owe Harry is.

Harry killed a thousand-year old Basilisk to save me. That alone would have incurred a truly colossal life debt. However, in addition to that he also prevented me from being responsible for the return of you-know-who. To make matters worse, the behaviour of my mother and brother, with no censure forthcoming from my father who is the head of the Weasley family, now means that they have disclaimed any responsibility for the debt, and I can feel my magic screaming at me to start repaying the debt.

My mother would no doubt attempt to guilt you into marrying me in order to settle the debt."

At this point, Hermione interrupted "Would that really work?".

"If it happened naturally, then it might work to an extent, although with the magnitude of the debt, I would likely end up subservient to Harry. If that was all, it wouldn't be such a problem. No, the problem is that if there was any manipulations that I was even peripherally aware of, there's a good chance that magic would take revenge for my betrayal, and with the extent of the debt, there's no knowing the form the revenge would take."

"It would be bad" stated Luna with conviction. She continued to explain "There have only been a few such betrayals recorded, and in no case was the debt as great. In all cases, the revenge was terrible. There are some divination techniques that you could attempt that would give you some idea of what will happen, but they tend to lack precision."

"Divination is a stupid subject. It's impossible to predict the future." interrupted Hermione.

"Really? So that must mean it's impossible to predict exam results, and therefore it's impossible to say if you or Ron Weasley will do better in the end of year exams. It's impossible to guess what will happen when you throw a ball out of the window?"

"Yet Professor Trelawnley has never made an accurate prediction."

"Under Dumbledore, competence with a subject has never been a requirement to teach it. Regardless, most of those with any skill at it are working for intelligence agencies or making a fortune in the muggle stock market. Really, I'm surprised you're so sceptical. I know some muggles can predict the future with their statistics and computer modelling. The inability of some to apply those techniques doesn't invalidate them."

Hermione looked at Luna with a bit of shock, and Harry asked Luna one of the questions Hermione was thinking. "Luna, how do you know about statistics and computer modelling? Most purebloods seem to struggle to blend in with the muggle world. Even Mr Weasley, whose job it is to deal with muggles seems to struggle greatly."

"The Lovegood family is very dedicated to its journalism. The interests differ, but the Quibbler has been around for centuries. My father's interest is finding new magical creatures or rediscovering ones thought to be extinct, and so he has sought out every possible advantage, including muggle methods."

"So your father actually has evidence for the existence of the crumple horned snorkak then?" asked Ginny in shock.

"Quite a lot, though all the evidence is indirect. I can say thugh, that one of the properties of the crumple horned snorkack is that they are very difficult to scry for, which is why we don't know what they look like exactly. The review in this year's July issue went over all that we've been able to find out."

Hermione just stared at Luna in complete shock.

Ginny decided that they had deviated from the original topic enough, and wanted to get back to what she had originally wanted to talk to Harry about in the first place. "Whilst all of this is very interesting, the reason I wanted to talk to you is that Charlie is visiting the country, and let slip that he's going to be spending some time at Hogwarts. I'm pretty sure that means that Dragons are involved in the first task."

"Thank you for telling me Ginny" said Harry, trying not to let the fear he felt show.

"With Dumbledore no longer Headmaster, we don't know if the tasks will remain as they were. In fact, we never even checked if Harry is actually bound to the tournament. We need to speak to Flitwick" mused Luna.

"Before you talk to the Headmaster, I have one last thing to say. My debt is to Harry and Harry only. So I'm happy for you to make Harry happy, but if you hurt him, you will have to deal with me."


	7. Chapter 7: The Tournament

After breakfast, the trio went to Flitwick's Office to discuss the questions that had arisen.

Hermione was the first to speak up "Professor, we were wondering if Harry still needs to compete in the TriWizard tournament."

"That's not as clear as I would like. I don't believe you were initially bound, but however reluctantly, you did accept your participation in the tournament. An examination of the Goblet shows that it is connected to you, though differently to the way the other champions are connected. I believe the safest way forward is for you to participate.

However, the contract with the Goblet specified only that the champions would compete in three tasks. None of the details were specified. I have agreed with the other heads that we will have a miniature event with three tasks to satisfy the requirements of the Goblet contract, and the other three champions will proceed with the tasks as originally scheduled, although I can tell you that those are to be modified from the originals as well."

At lunchtime, Flitwick got everyone's attention with a loud bang from his wand, and the proceeded with his announcements.

"The Alastor Moody you know was actually an imposter. He was the one responsible for entering Mr Potter's name into the Goblet of Fire. It has been conclusively proven that Mr Potter had nothing to do with his name coming from the Goblet. In order to discharge the magical contract, there will be a series of three tasks this weekend.

The real Alastor Moody is recovering, and I hope he will be able to join us soon.

Minevra McGonagall, Albus Dumbledore, and Severus Snape are no longer professors, and should not be referred to as such, as they are considered unworthy of the title.

This means that until further notice, potions, defence against the dark acts and transfiguration will be cancelled. Please use the time for self study. The house elves have cleaned up the classrooms on the fifth floor, and you may use them to form study groups, except for the two at the end of the corridor, which are to be used for relaxation only.

There will be teams of unspeakables and cursebreakers inspecting the school over the next few weeks. They will be doing important and delicate work, so please do not interfere. Any interference will be punishable by being immediately stunned, along with detentions and loss of housepoints."

For the next few days, the trio continued with their much improved Hogwarts experience, now that the remaining staff were committed to stamping out bullying. Each night when Harry and Luna went to bed together, Hermione would spend some time gazing at the door wondering what could might have been if she had not been potioned to ignore Harry. Harry and Luna remained oblivious to Hermione's melancholy, and continued to find comfort in sleeping together, though neither though they would be good enough to be a romantic partner for the other, and dreaded the day when they would no longer have the comfort.

Draco Malfoy had been providing amusement for the rest of the school, as he could not resist mouthing off every time he saw the aurors and unspeakable at work, and as a result spent half the day stunned, which was generally agreed to be a significant improvement.

Finally, the time for the three replacement tasks came. For the first task, the champions and spectators were directed towards the quidditch pitch. After applying a sonorus charm to himself, Flitwick explained that the first task would test their flying skills. He then allowed Madam Hooch to explain that the task would see the champions competing to catch the most snitches out of a set of 24 that would be released. She then handed the champions the brooms they would be using for the task, brand new Nimbus 2100s. Flitwick had persuaded Nimbus to sponsor the task and also donate a batch of new basic brooms for use in the flying classes.

Madam Hooch released the snitches in the centre of the quidditch pitch. After giving the snitches sufficient time to disperse, she blew her whistle and the champions mounted their brooms and took off. Within seconds, Harry and Viktor had both caught a snitch. Cedric was not far behind, but Fleur lacked the quidditch experience, and the snitches seemed to disappear as soon as she caught sight of them. By the time she managed to grab one, Harry and Viktor were on 4 each, and Cedric had three. Harry then spotted several snitches, and was able to pull off an extremely tight spiralling manoeuvre to grab three in quick succession. Whilst Harry was doing this, Viktor had been able to grab two snitches with a dramatic vertical descent. It was clear to everyone in the crowd that the winner of this task would be Harry or Viktor, and their aerial acrobatics were providing a wonderful display for the crowd.

All too soon for the cheering crowds, Harry and Viktor had eight each, Cedric had four and Fleur three, and if Harry or Viktor could catch the last snitch, they would win the task. Suddenly harry dived towards the ground, and Viktor immediately followed, scanning for the snitch that Harry must have spotted. At the last minute however, harry pulled out of his dive, and Viktor had been too busy looking for the snitch to notice that he was far too close to the ground, and despite attempting to pull up at the last minute, still ploughed into it. Harry had pulled off a Wronski feint on one of the world's best seekers, and was able to grab the snitch immediately after pulling out of the dive, giving him first place in the task.

Flitwick had taken the time before the task to cast cushioning charms on the pitch before the task, and Krum's injuries were minor and easily treated.

The second task was to take place by the lake. There would be many targets thrown up, and the champions would get a point for each they destroyed. At the beginning of the task, all the champions showed that they were precise and accurate, and racked up similar points totals. As the task went on however, the champions began to feel themselves being exhausted by the magic usage. Cedric was the first fall behind, and the three other champions soon pulled ahead.

Viktor was the next to fall behind, leaving Fleur and Harry to fight for first place in the task. Fleur knew that her Veela heritage should give her greater magical stamina, but Harry was showing no sign of slowing down, despite using significantly more power than needed to destroy the targets. Harry was surprised he had been able to continue for as long as he had, but attributed it the improvement he had felt in his magic after the Horcrux had been removed.

An hour later, Cedric and Viktor had both given up entirely, no longer able to summon up the necessary power to destroy a target, and Harry and Fleur were still going. To the surprise, new targets suddenly stopped appearing. Flitwick applied a sonorus charm to himself and announced "And in a stunning display, Mr Potter and Miss Delacour have outlasted the enchantments that produce the targets, and finished this task in joint first place!"

The last task was to take place in the great hall, and it would be a Gobstones tournament. Cedric was Hogwart's Gobstones champion, and this was his chance to catch up the points. After magically exhausting themselves in the second task, both he and Viktor were glad that the final task would involve no magic and be done sitting down.

Cedric started well, but unfortunately for the hufflepuff, his exhaustion soon started to tell, and his play was sub optimal. It was good enough to win the task by a reasonable margin, but still put him in third place overall. Viktor was a dreadful Gobstones player, and ended in last place. Fleur was a better Gobstones player than Harry, but she was just one point short of overcoming the advantage Harry had over here from his performance in the first task. Harry Potter had won the triwizard tournament. Despite the excitement, his foremost thoughts were of getting back to Luna and Hermione.


	8. Chapter 8: Finally!

The dinner after the conclusion of the TriWizard tournament had been a chance for the Hogwarts house elves to really show off their talents, and even the Beauxbatons students could find little to complain about. The trio were a little uncomfortable with the attention they were receiving, and fled to their quarters as soon as it was polite to do so.

They were working on their latest homework when Luna spoke up with a blunt question "Hermione, why do you stare at the door after Harry and I have gone to bed?"

"It's... you two seem so happy together... I don't want to interfere..."

"Hermione, so long as Luna doesn't mind, you'll always be welcome to join us" stated Harry.

"I don't mind at all" confirmed Luna

Ultimately, when Harry and Luna went to bed, Hermione followed, and neither Harry nor Luna protested Hermione's presence. However, Hermione was confused when Harry and Luna only cuddled up to each other. Hermione thought to herself "I know that Harry and Luna have something going on between them, and they've gone so far as to not even kiss to try and make comfortable. I can't do that to them, I'll have to tell them in the morning that I won't get in their way again."

When Hermione woke up in the morning, she knew immediately why Harry seemed so much happier since meeting Luna. Unfortunately, she was was still fretting about what she had to explain to Harry and Luna. She got up and got ready for the day ahead, and began reading the book Luna had lent her, _The Magician's Nephew_ whilst waiting for the other two to wake.

Hermione didn't have long to wait, and soon she nervously broke the topic she was dreading discussing.

"Harry, Luna, last night I slept better than I have since I was attacked by the troll. I really appreciate that you don't want to make me feel uncomfortable, but I can't interfere with your relationship like that."

Harry and Luna both looked at Hermione quizzically and it was Luna who broke the silence.

"Hermione, just what are on you on about?"

Hermione looked between Harry and Luna's faces and saw only honest confusion, and tried explaining further. "I know you might be a bit young to be going too far, but last night you didn't do anything except cuddle up to each other... and me."

Harry and Luna were still looking at Hermione in confusion.

"I mean, I'm sure I at least stopped the two of you kissing last night."

Realisation finally dawned on Harry and Luna, who replied simultaneously, both with a look of sadness, and verbally

"I'm not good enough for Harry/Luna, he/she will find someone much better and I'll be a lonely freak again."

Hermione looked at Harry and Luna in shock. She hadn't realised just how deeply damaged the two of them had been. Her childhood hadn't been perfect, but she was realising just how bad Harry's was been. And Luna was even worse equipped to handle social situations than she was, and had not just been friendless but systematically bullied, with her bullies reaching the extreme of attempted murder.

"I can't think of any couple I've ever seen that matches better than two of you" Hermione said honestly, although she couldn't help but let a trace of sadness seep into her voice. With the revelation that Luna thought the same way he did, and Hermione's observation giving him confidence, he pulled Luna into a kiss, which she melted into.

Hermione looked on at the scene, her emotions a mix of elation at her friends' happiness, sheer rage at the people who had mistreated her friends, and a tinge of jealousy and sadness.

"Hermione, why are you sad? Did you want to kiss someone too?"

Luna's perceptiveness startled Hermione and without thinking it through squeaked out a "yes".

"Would that be anyone we know?" asked Harry.

Hermione's eyes darted towards Harry, but surprising herself, she was able to admit to herself what she had been feeling, and whispered "yes, both of you, but I promise not to get in your way"

Harry looked at Luna and asked "What do you think Luna?" Luna looked at Hermione and said "I think we should kiss Hermione". Harry proceeded to do just that, and when he'd finished, Luna took over.

The three of them were so happy, they literally floated on their way down to breakfast.

Flitwick smiled when he saw his three favourite students enter the Great Hall holding hands. He also spotted Cho Chang moving towards them and walked briskly towards them in case intervention was needed.

"I see that you're Granger's slut as well now, Loony". Luna cringed away from her bully, and as Hermione was about to say something, Flitwick intervened "Mrs Chang, I have already explained to you that I will not tolerate bullying in my school. You are suspended for the rest of the term, return to your dorm and wait until your parents arrive to collect you."

Displaying his classic idiocy, Ron shouted loud enough for the entire Hall to hear. "It's not fair that Potter gets two whores, he should share them with me."

"Mr Weasley, you are responsible for setting a new record. Never before have two Hogwarts students been suspended in one day. Return to your dorm now Mr Weasley." "But I'm still hungry"

"NOW". Much to the surprise of many, Ron showed he wasn't entirely stupid and fled the Great Hall.

In a much pleasanter tone Flitwick continued "Congratulations to the three of you, I'm glad to see you getting some of the happiness you deserve."


End file.
